He said Target plans to open its first units of a new small urban format — called City Target — in 2012, woth pilot locations set for Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. "If successful, this format will provide us more flexibility to operate in densely populated areas on sites that won't accommodate our larger-store formats," Steinhafel said.

He also said the acquisition of up to 220 Zellers locations in Canada — with plans to open between 100 and 150 Canadian Targets in 2013 and 2014 — means the company anticipates sales will exceed $100 billion within the next six to seven years.

For the fourth quarter, which ended Jan. 29, Target said net income increased 10.6% to $1 million and sales increased 2.8% to $20.3 billion, with comparable store sales rising 2.4%. For the year net income rose 17.4% to $2.9 million, while sales were up 3.7% to $65.8 billion and comps rose 2.1%."